Nov 16 (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) said on Tuesday it is seeking U.S. authorization of its experimental antiviral COVID-19 pill that cut the chance of hospitalization or death for adults at risk of severe disease by 89% in a clinical trial.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-pill-pfizer-seeks-fda-authorization/
Pfizer on Tuesday said it is seeking Emergency Use Authorization for the antiviral pill, called Paxlovid, from the Food and Drug Administration. Earlier this month, the company said Paxlovid cut the risk of hospitalization and death by nearly 90% in people with mild to moderate coronavirus infections.
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"The overwhelming efficacy achieved in our recent clinical study of Paxlovid, and its potential to help save lives and keep people out of the hospital if authorized, underscores the critical role that oral antiviral therapies could play in the battle against COVID-19," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement.
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Other drugmakers are also developing a pill to treat COVID-19. An FDA panel is scheduled to meet on November 30 to weigh a potential emergency use authorization for molnupiravir, an antiviral drug developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics that recently won authorization in the United Kingdom.
Merck says its drug, called molnupiravir, halved the risk that adult COVID-19 patients with underlying health conditions ended up in the hospital or died from the disease.
Both Merck's and Pfizer's antiviral drugs are swallowed in capsules for five days starting soon after higher-risk patients test positive for the virus. Both pills are designed to reduce the risk of severe disease in the early days after infection, but they work in different ways.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/11/16/administration-purchases-pfizer-anti-covid-pill/
The Biden administration is planning to purchase 10 million courses of Pfizer’s covid pill, a $5 billion investment in a treatment that officials think will help change the trajectory of the coronavirus pandemic by reducing severe illness and deaths